The Great War

I must have been about 10 years old in those far off war years when I first went to help out at Greenbank farm. I used to go round with the milk cart, which was horse drawn, with two churns of milk and a pint and a gill measure. There were no bottles in those days! We would start at seven o'clock in the morning and the round was Gatley Road, Beech Avenue, Oakwood and Gatley village. Then on to Cheadle and Massie Street, behind Cheadle church and on through the village as far as the Red Lion.

The vicar of Gatley in those days was the Reverend Bruster. When our boys were called to the colours they would have their photographs taken and they would be put on show in a large picture frame outside the church. Our vicar was a fine chap and I remember he had the cock on the top of the church painted black, because he thought it would guide the German Zeppelins to Manchester. When the train drivers fired their engines at night on the main line from Manchester to Euston they used to say the red glow would guide the bombers to Trafford Park.

One of the small hospitals for injured servicemen was at Cheadle House, in Mary Street. This was at the back of Boots the Chemist on the High Street. I recall seeing these soldiers sitting out in their blue uniforms and red ties. They were with the volunteer nurses such as Miss Audrey Shinwell, Miss Dawes and Miss Wright, who wore white uniforms with a Red Cross on their chests.
The Cheadle and Gatley Council started allotments, where a plot of land was let for ten shillings a year to grow vegetables, everyone being encouraged to grow their own food.

Mrs. Parks, who lived at Gatley Hall, used to have all us kids collecting used tram tickets and we would get tuppence a hundred. The tickets in bulk helped the war effort and we would also collect conkers which were used in the manufacturing of high explosive! I remember that about a year after war breaking out things started to be in short supply, including food and, of course, petrol. Most people put their backs into the war effort. The Cheadle and Gatley Council came round with luminous paint and put a square round each lamp-post and at the entrance to buildings. This showed up in the dark of course but in those days all the street lamps were gas with an old fashioned mantle.
I remember Mrs.Wood who lived at 65 Church Road. She used to have all the children knitting socks for the Queen Alexandra's war effort. Where she lived is now the Red Lion car park.

Search lights shot their beams across the sky looking for Zeppelins and bombers. German planes did get as far as Manchester and one was shot down not far away. When we heard that butter was to be on sale at the Maypole shop in Underbank, Stockport, we would make for the tram, tuppence'ha'penny return, and queue for about three hours just to get a pound of butter! Sometimes I would get to the shop door and it would be all gone. You just had to wait for another day! I think it was about that time when Saving Certificates came into being. They were about 15/6d and after five years your investment grew to one pound, that was not bad in those days.

There were two doctor's surgeries in Cheadle and one in Gatley. You had to wait in the waiting room until the doctor came on his bike! You had to pay the doctor and some people paid a shilling a week. He had a collector to go round the houses. The pills or medicine were wrapped in white paper with your name on it and you would collect it in the evening. There were no clinics or reception desks in those days. Towards the end of the war there was a great epidemic of Influenza and a lot of people died. It was a new strain and people had no immunity against it. There was no penicillin or anti-biotics then and people just died.

With no radio or television all the news had to come via the newspapers. You waited eagerly for the paper to arrive, either the morning or the evening one. If you were in Manchester or Stockport the paperboys would run through the streets shouting, "Special", and we would know something important had happened. We used to collect cap badges off the soldiers who were on leave, many from the Cheshire Regiment but also from lots of others. It was all so very long ago but many of my memories are as fresh as if they only happened the day before yesterday!